William Randolph Hearst, America’s first media mogul, was a man of immense power and a voracious businessman who reveled in crushing competitors. In his prime in the early 1900s, he controlled what most Americans saw, heard and believed with his empire of major newspapers, magazines and radio stations, movie companies and news services. Hearst invented the saturation influence we see today from Rupert Murdoch, CNN and Facebook, said filmmakers Amanda Pollak and Stephen Ives, whose Citizen Hearst premieres September 27 on GBH’s history series AMERICAN EXPERIENCE.

“I think the degree to which this single person had his hands on the levers of so much power and influence will come as a surprise,” said Ives.

“Everyone had an opinion about him — he was vilified, idolized and on everyone’s mind,” said historian David Nasaw, whose book “The Chief: The Life of William Randolph Hearst” forms the foundation of the two-part documentary.
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“People can feel today that we are going through things for the first time in our history,” Pollak said. “Even though Hearst’s story happened a hundred years ago, there are so many resonant details. I think that’s important for people to understand as we think about how to continue to operate as a country and a democracy,” she said.

“In today’s polarized media landscape, the explosion of false narratives seems to undermine the very concept of what qualifies as news,” said Cameo George, AMERICAN EXPERIENCE executive producer. “Our incisive examination of William Randolph Hearst — and the unprecedented power he wielded through his media empire—couldn’t be more timely.”

The filmmakers said they tried to tell Hearst’s story through the lens of today’s world and hold him accountable for objectionable actions that may have been overlooked in the past: for example, his anti-Asian sentiments.

“But we also wanted to give him the time that he needs in history so that people can recognize how to navigate these issues, even still today,” said Pollak. “He’s not all good, and he’s not all bad.”

The film casts Hearst’s story as a cautionary tale.

“William Randolph Hearst is America writ large,” said writer Gary Kamiya. “He embodies everything good and bad about the essence of this country — its expansiveness, ambition, greed, sentimentality, showmanship and its ability to transform itself.”

Citizen Hearst: An American Experience Special airs on GBH 2 on Monday, September 27 at 9 p.m.